Guide to the ILGWU. Legal Department records

Founded in 1900 by local union delegates representing about 2,000 members in cities in the northeastern United States, the ILGWU grew in geographical scope, membership size, political influence to become one of the most powerful forces in American organized labor by mid-century. Representing workers in the women's garment industry, the ILGWU worked to improve working and living conditions of its members through collective bargaining agreements, training programs, health care facilities, cooperative housing, educational opportunities, and other efforts. In 1995, the ILGWU merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) to form the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE).

From very early on in its existence, the ILGWU had need for legal counsel, and this was handled in the union’s main offices in cooperation with hired attorneys. As the union grew and especially after the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947, the union found cause to establish a Legal Department. The department provided general legal counsel to the union and its affiliates, worked to develop collective bargaining agreement terms, and represented the ILGWU in litigation and arbitration. After the formation of the Master Agreements Department in 1965, the responsibilities for developing CBA terms shifted to the new department.

The Legal Department records do not comprehensively document the ILGWU legal activities, instead focusing on specific cases or series of cases.

Two ILGWU cases are documented in the Legal Department records. The first case involved the Kellwood Corporation, and the second involved the Donnelly Garment Company. The records relating to the Kellwood case (5780/107, 5780/107 AV, 5780/107 P) include court documents, correspondence and memoranda, surveys of strikers, organizing leaflets and newsletters (from both the union and the company), Steve Honeyman's draft accounts of the strike, audio and transcripts of Honeyman's interviews with ILGWU members and staff, newspaper clippings, photographs, and other printed material. The Donnelly Garment Company's case against the ILGWU is documented primarily through transcripts of the case, legal briefs, and related court documents.

Records on series of cases are the most general and extensive of the Legal Department records. They include records on ILGWU cases in the U.S. courts (5780/081), records documenting cases before the National War Labor Board (5780/085), and records relating to a wide variety contract negotiations, arbitration proceedings, and courts cases (5780/063).

Researchers may find complementary material in the other parts of the ILGWU records, such as the papers of the international leadership, especially the papers of ILGWU presidents (Series IV); the records of local unions in instances where these affiliates were involved in litigation or arbitration (Series III); and the collective bargaining agreements (Series VI). Related collections at the Kheel Center include decisions of the Coat and Suit Industry's Impartial Chairman (6036/015) and decisions of the Dress Industry's Impartial Chairman (6036/017).

In the Legal Department records (5780/107), the collection contains files relating to the ILGWU's organizing and legal activities surrounding the Kellwood Company at several of its divisions throughout the southern United States (Little Rock, Arkansas; Lonoke, Arkansas; Brownsville, Kentucky; and Greenfield, Tennessee). In addition to court documents and correspondence and memoranda relating to the ILGWU's legal cases, these records contain documentation of the Kellwood strike, including surveys of strikers, organizing leaflets and newsletters (from both the union and the company), and newspaper clippings on the strike. Also includes Steve Honeyman's draft accounts of the strike, transcripts of his interviews with ILGWU members and staff who participated in the strike, as well as working materials from the negotiations between the ILGWU and Kellwood. Organizing leaflets from other shops in Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Texas are also included.